Asia Pacific Media Network | Te Koakoa

Asia Pacific Media Network | Te Koakoa

Commentary

Parihaka’s matriarch, champion of tikanga and peace advocate Maata Wharehoka dies at 74

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OBITUARY: By Heather Devere
Maata Wharehoka (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Apakura, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Kuia. 1950-2025

Maata Wharehoka has been described as the Parihaka Matriarch, Parihaka leader and arts advocate, “champion of Kahu Whakatere Tupapaku, the tikanga Māori practices, expert in marae arts, raranga (weaving) and karanga”, renowned weaver who revived traditional Māori methods of death and burial, “driving force behind Parihaka’s focus to be a self-sufficient community”, Kaitiaki (or guardian)…

Mediawatch: NZ media in the middle of Asia-Pacific diplomatic drama

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MEDIAWATCH: By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatch presenter
By the time US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on China and Canada last Monday which could kickstart a trade war, New Zealand’s diplomats in Washington, DC, had already been deployed on another diplomatic drama.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz had said on social media it was “difficult to treat New Zealand as a normal ally . . .  when they denigrate and punish Israeli…

An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from the world’s fact-checkers – nine years later

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Pacific Media Watch
An open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in response to the social media giant’s decision to abandon its fact-checking regime protection in the US against hoaxes and conspiracy theories. No New Zealand fact-checkers are on the list of signatories.

Dear Mr Zuckerberg,
Nine years ago, we wrote to you about the real-world harms caused by false information on Facebook. In response, Meta created a fact-checking…

How Jeton Anjain planned the Rongelap evacuation – new RNZ Rainbow Warrior podcast series

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REVIEW: By Giff Johnson in Majuro
As a prelude to the 40th anniversary of the evacuation of Rongelap Islanders to Mejatto Island in Kwajalein in 1985, Radio New Zealand and ABC Radio Australia have produced a six-part podcast series that details the Rongelap story — in the context of The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior, the name of the series.

It is narrated by journalist James Nokise, and includes story…

Climate protests to continue despite 170 charged in Newcastle ‘protestival’

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Australia’s draconian anti-protest laws, the world’s biggest coal port was closed for four hours at the weekend with 170 protesters being charged — but climate demonstrations will continue. Twenty further arrests were made at a protest at the Federal Parliament yesterday.

SPECIAL REPORT: By Wendy Bacon
Newcastle port, the world’s biggest coal port, was closed for four hours on Sunday when hundreds of Rising Tide protesters in kayaks refused to leave its…

Cynical politics reported on world stage damage NZ’s reputation

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COMMENTARY: By Gavin Ellis in Knightly Views
“Flashpoint” in a foreign news story usually brings to mind the Middle East or the border between North and South Korea. It is not a term usually associated with New Zealand but last week it was there in headline type.

News outlets around the world carried reports of the Hīkoi and protests against Act’s Treaty Principles Bill, with the overwhelming majority characterising the events as…

ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes

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ANALYSIS: By Catherine Gegout, University of Nottingham
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader, Mohammed Deif.

The court says both sides have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes from the day Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 onwards.

Although a warrant was issued for Deif, Israel has said he was killed in an air…

The West buries a genocide – by making victims of Israel’s football thugs

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If the West was really worried about Europe’s Nazi past, it would be better advised to stop stoking an all-too-real new antisemitism -- incitement against Arab and Muslim minorities, writes Pacific Journalism Review contributor and expert on Middle East affairs and the media Jonathan Cook. Thanks to APMN member Adam Brown for alerting us to Jonathan's latest piece. This is very timely given the response in Greece for next week and…

Rising Tide climate crisis ‘Protestival’ to go ahead despite court ruling

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The NSW Supreme Court has issued orders prohibiting a major climate protest that would blockade ships entering the world’s largest coal port in Newcastle for 30 hours. Despite the court ruling, APMN member Wendy Bacon reports that the protest will still go ahead next week.

SPECIAL REPORT: By Wendy Bacon
In a decision delivered last Thursday, Justice Desmond Fagan in the NSW Supreme Court ruled in favour of state police who applied…

New survey finds an alarming tolerance for attacks on the press in the US – particularly among white, Republican men

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ANALYSIS: By Julie Posetti, City St George’s, University of London and Waqas Ejaz, University of Oxford
Press freedom is a pillar of American democracy. But political attacks on US-based journalists and news organisations pose an unprecedented threat to their safety and the integrity of information.

Less than 48 hours before election day, Donald Trump, now President-elect for a second term, told a rally of his supporters that he wouldn’t mind…

Gavin Ellis: A day to be gripped by fear – ‘freedom’ will lose its true meaning

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COMMENTARY: By Gavin Ellis
This morning, I am afraid. I am very afraid.

I fear that by the time I go to bed democracy in the United States will be imperilled by a man, the nature of which the Founding Fathers could never envisage when creating the protective elements of the constitution.

The risks will not be to Americans alone. The world will become a different place with Donald J Trump once…

Jonathan Cook: Israel kills the journalists. Western media kills the truth of genocide in Gaza

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Western publics are being subjected to a campaign of psychological warfare, where genocide is classed as "self-defence" and opposition to it "terrorism". Jonathan Cook reports as the world marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists at the weekend.

ANALYSIS: By Jonathan Cook
Israel knew that, if it could stop foreign correspondents from reporting directly from Gaza, those journalists would end up covering events in ways far more to…

Filep Karma - a political prisoner who fought racism in West Papua

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SPECIAL REPORT: By Andreas Harsono in Jakarta
In December 2008, I visited the Abepura prison in Jayapura, West Papua, to verify a report sent to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture alleging abuses inside the jailhouse, as well as shortages of food and water.

After prison guards checked my bag, I passed through a metal detector into the prison hall, joining the Sunday service with about 30 prisoners. A man sat…

Islands Business publisher Samantha Magick – storyteller, risk-taker and community champion

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By Teagan Laszlo, Queensland University of Technology
For Samantha Magick, journalism isn’t just a job. It is a lifelong commitment to storytelling, advocacy, and empowering voices often overlooked in the Pacific.

As the managing editor and publisher at Islands Business, the Pacific Islands’ longest surviving news and business monthly magazine, Magick’s commitment to quality reporting and journalistic integrity has established her as a leading figure in the region’s news industry.

Magick’s…

Two of the US’s biggest newspapers have refused to endorse a presidential candidate. This is how democracy dies

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ANALYSIS: By Denis Muller, The University of Melbourne
In February 2017, as Donald Trump took office, The Washington Post adopted the first slogan in its 140-year history: “Democracy Dies in Darkness”.

How ironic, then, that it should now be helping to extinguish the flame of American democracy by refusing to endorse a candidate for the forthcoming presidential election.

This decision, and a similar one by the second of America’s big three…

RSF tackles Taiwan’s media freedom ‘Achilles heel’, boosts Asia Pacific monitoring action

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COMMENTARY:  By David Robie in Taipei
It was a heady week for the Paris-based global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) — celebration of seven years of its Taipei office, presenting a raft of proposals to the Taiwan government, and hosting its Asia-Pacific network of correspondents.

Director general Thibaut Bruttin and the Taipei bureau chief Cedric Alviani primed the Taipei media scene before last week’s RSF initiatives with an op-ed…

Lee Miller helped shape our understanding of war. Her life as a photojournalist echoes in those working today

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ANALYSIS: By Andrea Jean Baker
Lee, the feature film debut from director Ellen Kuras, explores the rawness of authentic image making and the impact of gender in war reporting.

Kate Winslet stars as the world weary photojournalist Elizabeth “Lee” Miller — better known for featuring in an iconic photograph, rather than taking one.

The same day Adolf Hitler committed suicide at his Berlin bunker in 1945, photojournalist David E. Scherman took…

Google is worth more in Australia than major news outlets. Here’s how it could better fund journalism

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ANALYSIS: By Rob Nichols, Cameron McTernan, Scott Fitzgerald and Terry Flew
The Global Media Internet Concentration Project examines the concentration of the communications and media in countries around the world. 

The latest data for Australia have recently been released, and they show just how big Google is in the country. 

Alphabet (Google’s parent company) had 2022 revenue in Australia of A$7.9 billion. 

Murdoch to Musk: how global media power has shifted from the moguls to the big tech bros

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ANALYSIS: By Matthew Ricketson, Deakin University and Andrew Dodd, The University of Melbourne
Until recently, Elon Musk was just a wildly successful electric car tycoon and space pioneer. Sure, he was erratic and outspoken, but his global influence was contained and seemingly under control.

But add the ownership of just one media platform, in the form of Twitter — now X — and the maverick has become a mogul, and…

Samoa Observer: A slap across the face of media freedom

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EDITORIAL: The Samoa Observer editorial board
The Samoan government’s attempt to control the media for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a slap across the face of press freedom, democracy and freedom of speech.

It is a farce and an attempt by a dysfunctional government unit to gag local and overseas media.

No international forum of such importance does this. The United Nations, the Pacific Islands Forum or other CHOGMs never…